Great games you played as a child

[iahawks10]

Lot of good ones mentioned. We had a fun football game for 3 ppl where one would be qb and the other two would go out for a pass. Both were on offense but as soon as one caught the ball the other one became defense. We spent a lot of time with me as the qb throwing a lot of passes to my friends little brother so my friend could blow him up on the tackle.

Also I had a one person baseball game where I pitched a tennis ball against the front steps and then tried to catch the ball for an out. If I missed, then it depended on where the ball landed on if it was a single, double, triple or home run.

One of my favorite things not mentioned so far was crawdad hunting in the creek. We used to do that all summer long.

We had a 3 person football game as well. A qb, wr, and db. A TD pass was worth 6 pts for qb and wr. A def stop was worth 4 pts and a pick was worth two (plus 4 for the stop equaling 6). A pick-6 was worth 12. You had four downs to score.

After the series, everyone rotated. QB went to DB, DB to WR, and WR to QB. First one to 30 points (usually) won. This was a decent game because we could play it in the street under the street light at night.

 

[billanole]

A spin-off of the dodgeball thread. What were some great games you played in your youth?

We played baseball, basketball, and football (depending on the season) all day during the light hours.

Playing pick up baseball games were by far the best part of my childhood. But once it got dark, jail break was always fun to do until curfew. Normally we would have a teams of 7-10 and set up a perimeter of about six houses in our neighborhood. It could easily last an hour or two with one team being the escapees and so many great hiding spots. I look back and wonder how we didn’t get hurt more with fences, clotheslines, dogs, etc....

So much fun that you don’t see many kids doing anymore. I kind of feel sorry for them.

In younger years with a ton of cousins at reunions it was baseball, basketball, frisbee, massive hide and seek, mother may I, Rook, Pollyanna, Spades, and Hearts.
With boyz in the hood it was Bring Back (a version of no holds barred football), full contact no blood no foul basketball, Interstate (roller derby on bicycles), Ramming Speed, which was rowboat demo derby, crazy eights, poker, darts, pool, or tossing a tennis ball long distance to each other in the lake while treading water

 

[BrunoMars420]

NCAA football

 

[iahawks10]

NCAA football

Or even before

 

[joelbc1]

We had goggles, army helmets, beebee guns and beebees and a back pasture and shot beebees at eachother. Great fun.....no one got killed or injured. US vs. Axis.

 

[10kHawk]

Annie Annie Over
Spud

 

[Hendy hawk]

Horse shoes in the ally

 

[cjnoles9399]

We had a 3 person football game as well. A qb, wr, and db. A TD pass was worth 6 pts for qb and wr. A def stop was worth 4 pts and a pick was worth two (plus 4 for the stop equaling 6). A pick-6 was worth 12. You had four downs to score.

After the series, everyone rotated. QB went to DB, DB to WR, and WR to QB. First one to 30 points (usually) won. This was a decent game because we could play it in the street under the street light at night.

We played a variation of this in college. We came up with a scoring system where you could screw other players by tanking a play intentionally. IIRC we played it like 21 where going over would send a player back to a lower score. Can’t remember the rest of our rules though.

 

[TarponSpringsNole]

Red Rover
Kill the carrier
Baseball with a taped up wiffle bat and tennis ball
7-Up
Hop scotch
Jacks
War: we’d fashion guns out of wood and run around outside for hours
Frisbee war: two teams facing each other and throwing the frisbee as hard as you could so the other team couldn’t catch it.
Hide and seek
Pepper

 

[KuwaitHawk]

As said before, lots of good games. Neighborhood favorites included 500, Smear the Queer, various basketball games, football games for 3-8 people and of course Deadman.

 

[Nole Lou]

Spud

When we were younger, we played Spud a LOT. Was wondering if that would get mentioned. I'd say that was arguably the most common game we played in the ages before serious pickup sports (and their variations) started.

 

[Lone Clone]

A spin-off of the dodgeball thread. What were some great games you played in your youth?

We played baseball, basketball, and football (depending on the season) all day during the light hours.

Playing pick up baseball games were by far the best part of my childhood. But once it got dark, jail break was always fun to do until curfew. Normally we would have a teams of 7-10 and set up a perimeter of about six houses in our neighborhood. It could easily last an hour or two with one team being the escapees and so many great hiding spots. I look back and wonder how we didn’t get hurt more with fences, clotheslines, dogs, etc....

So much fun that you don’t see many kids doing anymore. I kind of feel sorry for them.

Went to one-room country school through fifth grade. We had a game called "steal sticks" that I've described here before at least once. Really good game...non-violent, good exercise.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

Anyone ever play spotlight? That game was awesome and we spent so many nights playing that game. One person was it with a flashlight. If you got caught, you went to jail. One jailbreak per person.

Other games:
Football
Soccer (world cup tournaments)
Baseball (tapeball- ball of tape with bats we made out of 2 liters and news paper)
Basketball
4 square
Hide and seek
Sardines
Capture the flag
Tennis
500
Lots of bike riding and fort making off the bike trails.

Of course for any 90s kid... video games. Literally over 50 SNES games we would rotate through.

 

[SoProudNole]

Did anyone else go "corning" as a kid? Shuck some field corn and then throw it at houses and run?

 

[longliveCS40]

 

[West Duval Nole]

Did anyone else go "corning" as a kid? Shuck some field corn and then throw it at houses and run?

No but did egg some houses and toilet paper them. Best Toilet paper to get was the huge rolls from a gas station restroom. Throw them up in the trees and it was heavy enough to come back town leaving TP on the branches on the way down. Then hope it rains or lots of dew in the morning to really make it stick. Or if you could do it quietly enough use their hose to spray it a little bit.

Then a couple years for halloween we did a scavenger hunt for jack o lanterns between a few teams. Met up to see who got the most for the win. Then we went up to a baseball field and lined them up in front of the entry gate. Another year there was someone that one of the guys had beef with and we smashed them all in the guys yard.

 

[longliveCS40]

No but did egg some houses and toilet paper them. Best Toilet paper to get was the huge rolls from a gas station restroom. Throw them up in the trees and it was heavy enough to come back town leaving TP on the branches on the way down. Then hope it rains or lots of dew in the morning to really make it stick. Or if you could do it quietly enough use their hose to spray it a little bit.

Then a couple years for halloween we did a scavenger hunt for jack o lanterns between a few teams. Met up to see who got the most for the win. Then we went up to a baseball field and lined them up in front of the entry gate. Another year there was someone that one of the guys had beef with and we smashed them all in the guys yard.

Your hi jinx reminded me when I was in high school. This was a really assholish thing to do in hindsight but we went around several newly under construction subdivisions that had a metal realty for sale signs on each lot. Grabbed all of them into the back of trucks and then went and stuck them all in the front yard of our superintendent. There must have been 100 of those for sale signs in the yard.

I don't know if/how they made their way back to the rightful realtors but I feel bad that we did that.

 

[West Duval Nole]

I don't know if/how they made their way back to the rightful realtors but I feel bad that we did that.

Yep. Lots of things as a teenager I thought was funny that I now look back on and feel some remorse. Although I am still pretty immature and laugh about how crazy it was. Of course I wouldn't pull those antics now that I am in my 40s. I didn't even do it in my 20's.

 

[Nole-4-Life]

Kick the can and capture the flag were staples of my summertime youth in the neighborhood. Usually played at night.

 

[hawkeye54545]

We played baseball in the spring and summer and football in the fall. At night we would play basketball under the street light. Or we would play Hide N seek in our town park.

So grateful to grow up in small town Iowa during the 80's. As others mentioned I don't see kids doing the stuff we did anymore.

 

[Dbq_Hawk]

Games we played regularly

Whiffle balls games in the summer. My older brother and I used black electrical tape for the ball and put a broom stick handle in one of those yellow bats. Worked fantastic. At night we played kick the can, ghost around the house or a game called Jason(Friday 13th was popular then).

We also played frisbee golf in the neighborhood with made up holes. We had a blast until someone threw a frisbee through a picture window.

Backyard football in the fall.

Typical winter activities(sledding, snow forts)

Those times were amazing and wouldn’t trade them for anything living in a small town. Things are too organized now...